Thrown Into the Past: First Meeting
by SkyGem
Summary: Four-year-old Tsuna and co. are sent into the past, and Giotto and his guardians have to take care of them, not knowing that these children will one day be their successors. Time travel fic. No pairings. First in the TItP trilogy.
1. Doppelgangers

Summary: Four-year-old Tsuna and co. are sent into the past, and Giotto and his guardians have to take care of them, not knowing that these children will one day be their successors. Time travel fic. No pairings. First in the TItP trilogy.

SkyGem: Hey all! Here's the new fic I promised you. I hope I don't disappoint ^_^.

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.

P.S. "This is in Italian" and "_This is in Japanese._"

* * *

><p>An eighteen year old Giotto had been taking a stroll in the Vongola mansion's private gardens (where only the guardians were allowed to tread) when he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. Surprised, the blond wheeled around with a smile, fully expecting to see one of his guardians. What he saw instead made his jaw hit the ground (metaphorically, of course).<p>

Out of the bushes came a little boy who looked to be about four years old; he had messy, chocolate brown hair sticking every which way, and wide, terrified eyes. there were scratches all over his face and arms and he looked as if he would start crying any minute.

The blond just stared at the little brunette with wide eyes. How the hell had he gotten in here? The Vongola base was heavily guarded and many spies and/or assassins didn't even make it past the outer wall, and a little boy had gotten into the private gardens with only a few bruises?

Giotto was about to start questioning the boy when suddenly, the kid staggered and his knees buckled.

Stepping forward, the young mafia don caught the boy in his arms because, potential assassin/spy or not, he was still just a kid. Not to mention the fact that his intuition was telling him the kid was harmless.

Not knowing what else to do, Giotto let out a sigh and headed back to the mansion, carrying the little boy in his arms.

It was during this trip that he saw the remarkable similarities between him and the little brunette; their faces were so like, it would be almost impossible for them **not** to be related, but the trouble was, Giotto didn't have any **living** relatives.

The young man was so wrapped up in the brunette's features, that when he next snapped out of his thoughts, he was about to crash into a tree. Swerving away just in time, he continued on to his destination, this time making sure to watch where he was going.

After stepping inside, he was on his way to one of the guest bedrooms when he heard G yelling.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE?" he heard his right-hand man shout and his curiosity was peaked. Had Lampo tried sneaking into his room to steal candy again?

"I ALREADY FUCKING TOLD YOU! A SECOND AGO, I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A PIANO RECITAL!" shouted an equally loud voice, although this one was much younger, and was most definitely not Lampo.

Giotto let out a whistle; even though he couldn't see him, he knew that this mystery kid was far too young have such colourful language. Following the sound of the voices, Giotto found his best friend standing outside his bedroom, yelling at a kid with shoulder-length, silvery hair. Although the blond couldn't see his face, he was certain the kid had on an expression very similar to that which his storm guardian was wearing.

G shouted back, "WHAT THE FUCK IS A PIANO?"

"IT'S A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, YOU UNEDUCATED-"

Giotto interrupted before the kid could spew a bucketful of colourful words at G.

"What's going on here?" he asked in a normal voice. Immediately, the two of them stopped shouting, and the kid turned to look at Giotto.

When he saw the kid's face, Giotto's eyes widened in shock; the kid's face closely resembled that of the man with whom he had been arguing.

G, meanwhile spotted the child in his boss's arms and his face became questioning. "Who's that?" he asked.

Giotto shrugged. "A kid I found while I was taking a walk in the garden."

"And you actually brought him in?" asked G, his voice rising again. "What if he's a spy? For all we know, him and this brat here" –he pointed at the silverette– "could be accomplices!"

"Oi!" shouted the boy. "Stop talking about me as if I weren't here, damn it! Anyways, I've never seen that guy before in my life!"

"Like hell I'm going to believe you!" shouted G, glaring at him. "How can we be sure you're not a spy sent by another family to get information on the Vongola?"

Rolling his eyes, the boy said, "Because my father is good friends with-"

The boy was cut off, however, by an explosion coming from the courtyard.

Letting out a sigh, Giotto shifted the little brunette in his arms so that he was clinging to his back, then turned and headed to where all the noise was coming from.

G grabbed the other boy by the arm and followed him to the source of the noise.

When they got to the courtyard, they saw Alaude handcuffing a kid who had black hair and steel gray eyes. He was glaring at Alaude with a mix of fury and indignity, and from where Giotto was standing, he could see that the boy looked a lot like his cloud guardian.

Now, the young mafia don was starting to get suspicious; where were all these children appearing from? And was there a reason as to why they looked so much like him and his guardians?

Letting out a sigh, he estured for Alaude to come over and the man obeyed silently. When he saw the children with his boss and the idiot right-hand, he raised an eyebrow as if saying, "And they are?"

Shaking his head, Giotto said, "The just appeared out of thin air. And what about him?"

"I found him wandering around, so I apprehended him for trespassing. He won't answer to anything I say."

"Do you know **him**?" G asked of the boy whose arm he still had a firm grip on.

No," said the boy, looking away and pouting, obviously pissed that he wasn't strong enough to make G release his grip.

An awkward silence then began to grow, and just as Giotto was about to break it, he felt a movement on his back and looked back to see the boy he was holding open his eyes.

When the boy saw him, his eyes widened in fright and he immediately let go of Giotto, pushing off his back and falling to the floor with a plop.

When he landed, he looked up at all the scary people surrounding him, three men and two boys, and his eyes grew teary.

"_Okaa-san,_" sobbed the little boy in a language Giotto immediately recognised to be Japanese.

Trying to put on his most reassuring smile, Giotto replied in the same language. "_Don't be afraid, little one._"

Unfortunately, this seemed to have the opposite affect and the little boy cried louder, afraid of the strange foreigner with golden hair and blue eyes.

"_Shut up, herbivore,_" came a new voice and Giotto looked over at the kid Alaude was holding in surprise.

So that was why he hadn't responded to Alaude before; he probably only understood Japanese.

The little brunette, surprisingly enough, really did stop crying and he looked over at the older boy with wide eyes. "_H-Hibari-sempai?_" he asked.

The other boy, now identified as Hibari, merely nodded and turned his head away, glaring. Giotto had to stifle a chuckle; he was so similar to Alaude. The boy tried to act indifferent, and put up a tough front, but Giotto knew that telling him to shut up had been his way of reassuring the little brunette.

Without a word, Alaude suddenly threw the boy named Hibari onto his shoulder and headed inside, saying, "I'll be taking this one for investigation. I suggest you bring the other two also, if you don't want to be arrested."

G, for once, didn't argue, merely following the cloud guardian back into the mansion.

Smiling reassuringly at the brunette on the ground, Giotto held his hand out to the boy.

Tsuna, who was by now a lot calmer knowing that his sempai from school was there, smiled back shyly and took the offered hand.

The two of them walked quietly at the back of the group for a while, then Tsuna looked up at the blond man, seeing now that he wasn't scary at all; he looked kind. "_Gomenasai,_" he said, and the man looked down with a confused expression. "_I'm sorry for being rude before,_" he explained with an apologetic smile on his face, and Giotto had the incredible urge to cuddle the boy to death.

"_It's fine,_" replied Giotto. "_It's not your fault that you were scared. Anyways, my name is Giotto. What about you?_"

"_I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, but most people call me Tsuna!_" said the boy enthusiastically and Giotto chuckled a little.

"_Well then, it's nice to meet you, Tsuna,"_ said Giotto.

He would have said more, but at that moment, Tsuna pulled him to a stop, staring ahead.

Following his gaze, Giotto noticed that the others had stopped, and he was dangerously close to bumping into a certain skylark.

Said skylark was staring towards an open doorway, which Giotto immediately knew led to Asari's room.

From inside came the talk of idle chatter, and when Giotto pushed open the door, he almost fell to the floor, seeing his rain guardian sitting on a cushion and enjoying tea with a child that looked a lot like him.

Seeing the Japanese man, Tsuna let out a small squeak and ran into the room.

When the two occupants of the room saw him, they smiled twin smiles, and Tsuna smiled back.

Bowing, he said, "_Ohayou gozaimasu!_"

Looking mildly surprised, Asari said in a light voice, "A mini Giotto." His eyes flickered to his boss when he saw that, a mischievous smile on his face, then he turned back to the boy and said in Japanese, "_Ohayou, little one. Am I right to assume that you do not know how you got here either?_"

Tsuna nodded, and Asari smiled.

Turning his attention to his boss, he asked, "Where are you taking them?"

"Interrogation room," replied Giotto. "Alaude's idea."

Nodding, Asari got up, saying, "We better come along too." Turning back to the kid he had been having tea with, he said, "_Come on, Yamamoto-kun. My friend wants to ask you some questions. Is that okay?_"

Yamamoto smiled and nodded, saying, "_I don't mind, Asari-san._"

As the little party began moving again, Giotto looked over every one of the children. From what he had seen so far, they all acted similarly to whomever they happened to resemble, which brought on a terrifying thought.

If one were to follow the current logic, then they would come to the conclusion that a min Daemon doppelganger would show up soon enough, and god help them when he did.

* * *

><p>SkyGem: Voila! First chapter done! What did you guys think? Did you like it? Worth delaying RaF over? Please do leave a review to tell me what you thought, and before I forget: Lambo won't be in this fic X(. Sorry to any and all Lambo fans. Anyways, next chapter of RaF will be out tomorrow, and I'll try my best to see if I can update this too, but I'm not making any promises.<p>


	2. Dear Lord, There Are Two!

SkyGem: Wow, so far, this is doing better than RaF...I'm not sure how to feel about that XD But I do know that I'm really happy! Getting over 30 reviews in two days, it's been a while since that happened to me. Thank you all so much! Anyways, let us move on to the story~

* * *

><p>Daemon, who was on his way home from his latest mission in Rome, looked suspiciously at the sight in front of him. He had never, in his wildest dreams, imagined that there would be another person in the world with hair even remotely similar to his.<p>

To suddenly find two kids with almost identical hairstyles irked him to no end; not to mention that the boy brat's face was also similar to his, and this irked him even more...at least the girl looked nothing at all like him.

"Who the hell are you?" Daemon asked the young boy, who was glaring at him.

"Who the hell are **you**?" retorted the kid, staring up at him with mismatched eyes; now how had that happened? The mist guardian was pretty sure that one couldn't be born with a red eye...could they?

His eyebrow twitching a little, he said, "I asked you first, you brat! Anyways, didn't your parents ever tell you to respect your elders?"

"I don't have parents!" shouted the kid. "Now get away from me, you freaking pedophile!"

"P-Pedophile?" asked Daemon, drawing back in shock. Letting his anger overwhelm him, he let loose an illusion of hundreds of snakes, entangling themselves around the little boy. The boy shocked him, though, by showing him that he, too, could use illusions.

After a long, drawn out battle, the two illusionists fell to the ground, panting. Throughout the whole ordeal, the girl, who had been long forgotten, just sat there, staring at them silently.

Sensing her stare on him, Daemon turned to look at the girl, who quickly looked away.

"What's up with your sister?" he finally asked of the boy, whose name he still didn't know yet.

"She's not my sister!" he grumbled, looking away. "I don't even know who she is. It's just that, when I suddenly appeared here, she was with me."

"Appeared here?" asked Daemon questioningly.

"Judging from the clothing you and everyone else seem to be wearing and just the general atmosphere, I'd guess we're sometime in the 17th century. I'm from around four hundred years in the future," said the boy, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders as if being thrown centuries into the past was the norm for him.

Daemon let out a full-throated chuckle; he was starting to like this kid. "From the future, eh?" he asked sceptically.

"That's right," said the boy, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "And from the looks of her clothes, she's probably from the same time."

For the first time, Daemon noticed, with surprise, that their clothes were indeed rather strange. With a small smirk, he decided that he would go along with their little 'game' . . . for now.

"Kufufu, I see," he said. "Then if you're from the future, I'm guessing you have nowhere to stay while you're here?"

"We'll think of something," said the boy with mismatched eyes, and Daemon raised an eyebrow. Despite saying that he didn't know the girl, this young boy seemed to have grown attached to her.

Not wanting to lose his new toys so fast, the mist guardian said, "Well, why don't you stay with me and my Famiglia at the Vongola mansion?"

"Vongola?" repeated the little boy, an odd expression appearing on his face. "I see," he said. "Judging from your illusions, you must be Vongola Primo's mist guardian, Daemon Spade, yes?"

"Oh, you know about me?" he asked, feeling oddly excited.

"Of course, the Vongola is the most influential Family in all of Italy, everyone knows about them," said the kid slowly, as if talking to a child or a dim-wit.

"Really?" asked the older illusionist excitedly, somehow finding him believing more and more the child's story. "Well then, you'll have to tell me more about it when we get to the mansion."

"I don't know that much about it," sniffed the boy. "I was from the Estraneo Family before they were . . . destroyed. I hate anything and everything to do with the mafia."

"I see," said Daemon thoughtfully. "Well, if you come with me, you'll get a chance to trash a mafia boss's office and piss off his right-arm while you're at it. I'll even make sure they don't kill you."

The little boy seemed to think for a moment, then nodded and said, "Kufufu, it looks like we have a deal then, Spade. By the way, I am Mukuro Rokudo, and this is Nagi."

"I thought you said you didn't know her," said Daemon curiously,

"I don't," said Mukuro with a shrug. "But before you came here, I tried talking to her, but she doesn't know Italian, only some asian language. Japanese, I think. All I could understand was that her name was Nagi."

"I see," said Daemon thoughtfully, looking down at the girl. "_A pleasure to meet you, Nagi-san_," he said to her, and her eyes widened.

Bowing deeply, she said, "_Hajimemashite, Spade-san._"

Daemon smiled when she replied, and Mukuro just looked back and forth between the two of them. "_Just call me Daemon,_" said the mist guardian, holding his hand out to her in invitation. "_Your friend here tells me that you're lost. Why don't you come live with me until you can find your way home?_"

Nagi stared up at the strange man in uncertainty. It had been drilled into her head many times over that she should never trust strangers, especially handsome ones, but did those rules apply here? She was stuck who knows where with no chance of returning home any time soon, and she would die anyway if she didn't come up with something soon.

Finally, after a slight hesitation, Nagi took his hand and smiled, allowing him to lead her wherever it was he lived.

* * *

><p>Giotto was wide eyed with shock. He could not believe what was going on in front of him.<p>

The normally calm and collected Alaude looked as if he were about to burst, and it was all thanks to the little silverette whom he had just learned was named Hayato Gokudera. Not even G could make Alaude as mad as Hayato had, and the amazing thing was, the kid wasn't even trying.

"I will ask you once again," said the pale blond in a barely controlled voice, "and this time, you will answer me properly. How did you get in the mansion?"

Hayato merely turned his head away and crossed his arms. "I've already answered you many times. If you still don't get it, then I have no reason to talk to you anymore."

Finally, finally, Alaude's control snapped in two and he lunged at the boy.

Rushing forward, G and I each grabbed an arm, trying to stop him from mauling the annoying little brat. The only reason he hadn't done this earlier was because I had threatened him with disbanding his information network.

For the past two hours, we had all been holed up in the interrogation room, trying to extract information from the kids as to how and why they were on Vongola property. So far, we'd found out absolutely nothing.

Rubbing my temple to try and dispel the massive headache I was getting, I was about to start talking again when the door burst open and Daemon came striding in, a smirk stretched across his face.

"I've been looking everywhere for you!" he shouted triumphantly. "We've got guests!" As he said this, two kids stepped out from behind him, and when Giotto saw their pineapple haircuts, he froze in horror.

Dear lord, there were **two** of them!

* * *

><p>SkyGem: I'm so sorry this was so short guys! I promise, I'll make it up to you somehow, okay? Just please, for now, leave a review and tell me what you thought! Reviews are my motivation, and if I get enough, I might just update this again tomorrow ^_^. Ciao until then~<p> 


	3. From the Future

Giotto stared at the two children for a second, then looked back at his mist guardian, hoping they weren't who he thought they were.

"Daemon . . . who are these children?" asked the blond in a nervous voice.

Shrugging, the mist guardian said, "Beats me. I just bumped into them in town, and since they had nowhere else to go, I brought them back with me."

Giotto just stared at the illusionist with wide eyes. Had the man always been so…stupid?

"ARE YOU FUCKING RETARDED?" shouted G. "What if they're spies or something?"

Waving a hand dismissively, Daemon said, "It's impossible for them to be spies!"

"And why is that?" asked Asari, genuinely curious.

"Because they're from the future," replied the illusionist with a goofy grin on his face, obviously not believing what he himself was saying.

There was a moment of silence; the adults in the room, who seemed to have completely forgotten about the children, were wondering how many times Daemon had been dropped on his head as a baby. Mukuro was watching was going on with minimum interest, Gokudera had on a calculating expression, and the other kids (none of whom understood what was being said) were merely watching with confused faces, wondering what was going on.

"Anyways," continued Daemon. "It's not like I'm the only one who brought strange kids into the mansion!" When he said this, he looked pointedly at the other children in the room, whose resemblance to the other guardians he only just now was noticing. His eyes widened when he saw said resemblance. "Oh, my god! Talbot has found a way to clone us, hasn't he?"

Mukuro looked up at the stupid adult through bored eyes, then took Nagi's hand and slowly edged away, closer to where the other children were.

As all this was going on, Gokudera, who was still brooding on what Daemon had said (about the two pineapple heads being from the future), and finally came to the conclusion that they were indeed from the past, and from what he could tell, so were all the other children.

"What pineapple head said was true!" said the little silverette, and everyone turned to look at him.

"What?" asked Giotto, completely bewildered.

"I'm pretty sure neither me, nor the other kids, are from this era."

G snorted at this. "Get real, brat. There's no way in hell I'm going to believe that the lot of you are from the future."

"It's true," growled Gokudera. Turning to Mukuro, he said, "Before you appeared here, it was the year 199X, wasn't it?"

Giotto looked at the boy with wide eyes; not because he was claiming to be from the future, but because he actually believed him. Giotto would have known if the boy had been lying (one of the advantages of having hyper intuition) and this kid, impossible as it may seem, was actually telling the truth.

"G," he said to get the man to be quiet. When there was an absence of noise in the room, Giotto turned to Tsuna. Bending down, Giotto asked him in a gentle yet serious voice, "_Tsuna-kun, tell me. What year is it?_"

The little brunette tilted his head to the side in question. "_It's 199X_," he said without hesitation.

There was a barely audible gasp from G. When Giotto turned to give him a meaningful look, the red-haired man just turned his head to the side, still refusing to believe what was right in front of his eyes. "He could be making this up, you know. He probably understands everything we're saying." Despite his words, G's words were laced with uncertainty.

Letting out a sigh, Giotto turned to Alaude. "And what do you think?" he asked the pale blond.

Alaude had been quiet ever since Daemon had first barged into the room, observing the seen with quiet interest. Now that all eyes were on him, he adopted a mask of indifference and said, "I think it's time we call Talbot and find a way to get these brats back to their own time." And with that, the blond left the room, leaving behind a still handcuffed Hibari.

* * *

><p>Knuckle had only just finished his daily three kilometre run and had returned to his room to change back into his priest robes. When he got to his room, though, the first thing that caught his attention was a small figure fast asleep on his bed.<p>

Curious, he went up to his bed to see who it was; the figure was much too small for even Lampo, who was the youngest in the whole mansion.

Pulling back the cover, his jaw dropped to the floor when he saw a young boy, about five years old or so, curled up into a tight little ball, sleeping peacefully.

The priest stood there for quite a while, wondering what to do. In the end, he could think of nothing better to do than to wake the child up so that he could interrogate him.

Gently, he shook the boy's shoulder, but he didn't respond. He tried again, a little harder this time and again, the boy didn't so much as stir.

In the end, to get the boy to wake up, the sun guardian had to shout into the boy's ear, "Wake up!"

Finally, the boy's eyes opened groggily and he looked around in confusion, not seeming to recognise where he was.

"Are you okay?" asked Knuckle of the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder.

The child merely looked at him with a blank expression, and when he opened his mouth to speak, it wasn't in the Italian language.

"_Who are you?_" asked the boy in Japanese.

Knuckle was taken aback at this. Apparently, not only did the child not know where he was, he didn't even speak Italian.

Mustering up a smile, Knuckle introduced himself, saying, "_I am a priest going by the name of Knuckle, and I am also the sun guardian of the Vongola Family of Italy._"

The boy's eyes clouded with confusion for a second, but it wasn't long before a wide smile brightened his face and he said, "_I don't know what a Vongola is, but it's nice to meet you, Knuckle-san! I'm Sasagawa Ryohei from Namimori, Japan!_"

* * *

><p>SkyGem: Okay guys, two things to say. One: For some odd reason, I'm having serious writer's block on this fic, and I don't think I'll be able to update this every other day; maybe every week or so. But, on the other hand, it looks like RaF is just as easy to write as always (I wonder why that is?) so I've decided that, starting tomorrow, I'll start updating it daily again…for a while anyways. 'Cause here's number two: I'm starting school on again on the 6th, and since I'm in my second year of high school (grade 11), I'll probably be swamped in school work, so after a while, my updates may start to dwindle…I'm really sorry guys *bows*. Anyways, that's all I have to say for now, please do leave a review and tell me what you thought, ne?<p> 


	4. What Happened

After Alaude had left the room, there was a long, awkward silence.

The first to break it wasn't any of the adults; in fact, it was Tsuna's stomach growling.

When everyone turned to look at the little brunette, his face flushed bright red and Giotto let out a small laugh.

_"Well, until we find a way to get you guys back home, why don't we all have some food?"_

All the Japanese kids (sans Hibari) eagerly nodded their heads, absolutely famished.

The two Italian kids, meanwhile, looked on confusedly until Asari translated for them. "Would you guys like some food?"

Mukuro's face brightened and he said immediately, "Definitely! I'm starving!"

Gokudera even smiled a little, which was soon replaced by a scowl. "Some food would be good; I still need to get my sister's poison cooking out of my system."

Not even choosing to comment on that, G instead said, "Okay, but first, I really think we need some introductions! And we need to get straight which kids speak which language."

Nodding, Giotto turned to the six children who were huddled close together. _"My name is Giotto, and this is where my friends and I all live. There are seven of us in all, and a few hundred staff. Welcome to our home, and I hope you enjoy your stay here!"_ Then, switching to Italian, the man repeated the whole thing. _"So,"_ he said, switching back to Japanese once more,_ "I'd like to raise your hand if you speak Japanese."_ When he said this, three hands went up, and the fourth belonged to Hibari, who was still, unfortunately, handcuffed.

Turning to the last two children, Giotto said to them, "You two only understand Italian?"

Gokudera and Mukuro nodded, and after a long introduction from all the adults and children present (which was made longer by the fact that everything had to be said twice, once in Japanese and once in Italian), Giotto took out the key to Alaude's handcuffs which he always carried with him, freed Hibari, and they all made their way to the dining room.

* * *

><p><em>"So, do you know how you got here, Ryohei-kun?"<em> asked Knuckle conversationally, hoping he could get some answers from the boy.

The white-haired boy merely shook his head saying, _"I EXTREMELY went to bed in my own room, but when I woke up, I EXTREMELY found myself here!"_ At that moment, the boy's eyes widened, and he said, _"I have to get home soon, or else Kyoko will get worried to the EXTREME!"_

_"Kyoko?"_ asked Knuckle curiously.

_"My EXTREME imouto!"_

"_I see…" said Knuckle slowly. "Well, Ryohei-kun, until we know how exactly you got here, I'm afraid you'll have to stay."_

Ryohei looked dismayed at this, but, never one to dwell on anything too long, a wide smile crossed the boy's features and he said, _"Okay! But, would you happen to have some EXTREME food? I'm hungry to the EXTREME!"_

Letting out a laugh, Knuckle said, _"Of course. But after we get you something to eat, we have to go see some of my friends, okay?" _The priest knew that he should probably let Giotto know about the "intruder" right away, but it was so easy to get swept up into the kid's pace, and even though he knew that there was absolutely no way this kid was in any way dangerous.

"_Hai!"_ said the boy. _"Now, let's go to the EXTREME!"_ As he said this, he grabbed Knuckle's arm and pulled him to the doorway of his bedroom.

Letting out a chuckle, the priest led the five-year-old towards the dining room, all the while listening to his chattering about his wonderful younger sister.

When he threw open the door to the dining room, he was about to head straight for the kitchen, when he froze in the doorway at the sight before him.

Giotto, G, Asari, and Daemon were sitting 'round the table, talking amongst each other while six kids sat in the spaces between them, happily digging away at the food sitting in front of them.

The first to notice him was Asari, who smiled widely and said, "Ah, it looks like Knuckle has found his doppelganger too! Now the only one that's left is Lampo."

Knuckle, confused at what the Japanese man meant, took another look at the kids and noticed that they looked like each of the guardians, except for the only girl, who was probably Daemon's, if her pineapple hairstyle was anything to go by.

"So, does he speak Italian or Japanese?" asked G.

"What?" asked Knuckle in confusion.

"Well," explained Giotto. "Tsuna, Nagi, Takeshi, and Kyoya here all speak Japanese, and Hayato and Mukuro speak Italian," he said, gesturing to the kids as he said their names. "What about him?"

"Ah, this is Ryohei, and he speaks Japanese," said Knuckle, still not fully understanding the situation.

Giotto nodded, and looked as if he were about to say something when Tsuna tugged on his sleeve.

"_I'm done eating, Giotto-san,"_ said the kid.

Giotto couldn't help but laugh when he saw the kid's face. Picking up a napkin, he gently wiped the boy's face, saying, _"Did it taste good?"_

"_Hai!"_ said the boy enthusiastically.

"_Ne! I want some to the EXTREME!"_

After that, as Ryohei was eating, Giotto and the others explained to Knuckle exactly what was going on, and, surprisingly enough, the priest believed them.

After a few minutes more, it was decided that each child would stay in the room of the guardian they resembled. There was a bit of controversy on whether Nagi should stay with Daemon, but in the end, the guardians came to the conclusion that not even Daemon would sink so low as to torture a defenseless little girl (not that they didn't have their doubts, of course).

* * *

><p><em>"Anyways, this is our room,"<em> said Giotto, smiling down at Tsuna, who was looking at the room in awe. After everyone had finished eating, the guardians had split up to show the children to their rooms.

The blond watched as the four year old walked tentatively inside, trailing his hand along the walls, and poking at the blanket on the bed. To Giotto, he looked like a puppy that was seeing its new home for the first time. Fighting back the urge to cuddle the brunette to death, Giotto opened his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by a loud scream from the room across from them; Daemon's room.

His eyes widening, Giotto threw a glance at Tsuna, then ran to where he had heard the scream come from with Tsuna following him.

When they got to the room, they didn't see Daemon torturing poor Nagi, as they had expected. Instead, they saw the pineapple headed girl staring in horror at a mirror.

_"Nagi-chan?"_ said Giotto in confusion. _"What's wrong?"_

* * *

><p>SkyGem: Haha, so what did you all think of the long awaited fourth chapter? Anyways, I'm so sorry it took me so long to update, but I promise, the next chapter won't take nearly as long, ne? Anyways, please leave a review and tell me what you thought!<p> 


	5. Okaa san

"_Nagi-chan? What's wrong?"_

The little purple-haired girl looked over to the source of the voice with tears in her eyes. _"M-my hair…what h-happened to my hair?"_ she asked, hiccupping.

"_Your…hair?"_ asked Giotto, confused. _"What about it?"_

"_What h-happened to it?"_ she asked.

By now, Giotto was thoroughly confused. _"I…don't see anything wrong," _he said. "_Wasn't it like that when you came to the mansion?"_

This seemed to confuse her. _"E-eh? I-it's been like this the whole time?"_

Giotto just stared blankly at the girl. Then, turning to his mist guardian with a scowl on his face, he said in a dangerous voice, "Daemon…"

Daemon, who had been watching with a dumbstruck expression on his face, turned to look at Giotto when he heard his name come out of the blonde's mouth.

Seeing the expression on his boss's face, he slowly started backing away, scared as hell. Raising his hands in front of him, he said, "It wasn't me! S-she had that hairstyle when I first met her! I swear it!"

The illusionist knew that his boss didn't believe him, and he was about to make another defense when there was a burst of creepy laughter, and everyone turned to look at the last pineapple head in the room.

The young bluenette was holding his stomach, laughing hysterically while everyone in the room just stared at him in shock.

"You-!" gasped out Daemon, suddenly remembering that the boy could also make illusions.

Nagi, despite not knowing what they were saying, did realize that it must have been the boy, Rokudo-san, who had done this to her. She also knew, from observing his battle with Daemon earlier, that this hairstyle wasn't real.

The girl walked up to him, interrupting Daemon and claiming everyone's attention.

Standing in front of Rokudo-san and trying not to cry, she sniffled once and said, _"P-please return my hair to n-normal. P-please."_

Despite not knowing Japanese, it wasn't that hard for Mukuro to get the gist of what she was saying.

For a second, he considered not listening to her request, but when he saw how hard she was trying not to cry, the little humanity the boy had in him compelled him to grant her request.

Sighing, he turned around grumpily, releasing his illusion on the girl's hair.

The next moment, instead of a pineapple hairstyle, young Nagi had long purple hair that reached almost to her waist, and had no resemblance to a pineapple whatsoever.

Mukuro walked away grumbling, and Nagi let out a relieved sigh.

The other three in the room, however, were very much surprised at how different Nagi's new hairstyle made her look. She looked…normal.

Smiling, young Tsuna happily skipped up to her, smiling brightly.

"_No matter what she looks like, Nagi-chan is always so pretty!"_

The Japanese girl blushed at this and stuttered out, _"A-arigatou Sawada-san."_

Shaking his head, Tsuna replied with,_ "You can call me Tsu-kun! That's what okaa-san always calls me!"_

"_H-hai,"_ replied the girl, even shyer than before.

Tsuna looked as if he would have replied, but at that moment, a small yawn escaped from the boy's mouth, and was soon taken up by Nagi, and even Mukuro, who was sulking in the corner.

Chuckling, Giotto bent to pick up the small child, who squealed and grabbed tightly onto Giotto's neck when he was taken away from the floor.

"_It's still a little early, but why don't you guys take a nap? You've all had quite a busy day,"_ said Giotto sweetly, carrying Tsuna back towards their own bedroom. Before stepping out into the hall, he turned to look at Nagi meaningfully, then said to Mukuro in Italian, "You get some sleep too, Mukuro!"

"Whatever," replied Mukuro in a nonchalant voice, before turning to do exactly what the blond had said and climbing into Daemon's bed, patting the spot beside him to show that Nagi was also welcome.

The girl hesitated for a moment, thinking about what he'd done to her hair. When she saw Mukuro's expression, though, she decided that maybe she could trust him this one time.

Climbing into the bed beside him, she lay down and closed her eyes.

"Mi dispiace…" said a quiet voice and the girl couldn't help but smile. Now she knew how to say 'I'm sorry' in Italian.

As they slowly drifted off to sleep, neither paid any attention to Daemon, who was staring at them with shocked eyes, wondering when he had become so weak that two **children** could steal his bed and get away with it unharmed.

* * *

><p>After tucking Tsuna into his bed, Giotto called for a meeting with all of his guardians.<p>

When they all arrived, they had grave expressions on their faces.

Even before Giotto could start talking, Asari said, "We must return these children to their home quickly! We must not let them be caught up in the mafia."

"I agree," said Knuckle quietly. "Surely God would never forgive us if we were to drag these innocent children into our dark world."

There was a snort from across the table. "Innocent?" asked Daemon in a disbelieving voice. With one look from Giotto, though, he was silenced, crossing his arms across his chest and looking away, grumbling quietly to himself about how there was no way in hell that that pineapple head was innocent.

"I am in full agreement with the two of you," said Giotto, looking first at his rain guardian, then at his sun guardian. Finally, he turned to look at Alaude and asked, "Have you talked to Talbot?"

The Skylark nodded. "When I explained to the herbivore what had happened, he looked as if I had made some kind of discovery and said "I was wondering what that disturbance was! Not to worry, I shall have those children back in their own time before they know it!" "

Giotto nodded at this, seeming a little less worried. "Did he give you an estimate of how long he it might take?"

Here, Alaude growled under his breath, saying, "One month."

There was complete silence around the table.

"One…month?" asked G, disbelieving.

"I have to deal with those brats for one month?" demanded Daemon, his expression horrified.

"Will you just plug it?" asked G, looking even more irritated than the illusionist. "There's no way your brats are as annoying as the one I have to deal with."

"Wanna bet?" asked Daemon, glowering.

Before G could accept, their boss interrupted them.

"Enough," said Giotto, a note of finality in his voice. "We have more important matters to deal with right now. The fact that Talbot can't send the children back home for a month can't be helped. Until then, we'll just have to stay on guard. Only three guardians can be away from the mansion at a time, and even though it's been divided up like this, you're not only responsible for looking after the child that is sharing your room with you. If you see **any** of the children in danger, or if any of them need anything, it's your job to help. Got it?"

Everyone around the table nodded.

"And I do believe it would be best not to tell other families that they are currently staying with us," added Asari. "It would be the equivalent of inviting them to try kidnapping the children. We must keep them a secret for them to remain safe."

Suddenly, Daemon's expression became mischievous, and without even having to look at him, Giotto said, "Don't even think about it, Daemon."

Now, Daemon wasn't stupid; he knew that his boss was a total pushover when it came to most things. When it came to the safety of children (and the safety of his sweets), though, there was not a single soul on Earth that could disobey him and get away without being maimed and/or losing their lives.

"Yes, Primo," said the illusionist meekly, pouting that he had been discovered so fast.

"But I wonder why Lampo doesn't have a doppelganger?" Asari suddenly asked, and everything stopped.

Everyone turned to look at the youngest guardian, and he shrugged, making an expression as if to say, "How should I know?"

Giotto, deep in thought, suddenly had an idea. "Maybe…it's the age difference?"

"Age difference?" asked G.

The blond nodded. "I mean, they all look a lot like us…maybe they have similar age differences too?"

Everyone thought about this, and suddenly, Knuckle's face broke into a wide smile. "Of course!" he said. "Lampo is about eight years younger than Giotto, and that boy, Tsuna, looks about four. Lampo's kid probably isn't born yet!"

"Thank God," grumbled Lampo, who didn't like kids all that much. The other guardians knew, though, that deep inside, he was probably feeling disappointed.

"Well-" began Giotto, ready to end the meeting, but was interrupted by a polite knock on the door (how can a knock be polite?). Frowning a little, he said, "Come in!"

The door opened, and there stood a maid, her expression looking absolutely heartbroken.

"Mariam?" asked Giotto, confused. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"One of the young masters is crying…" she said, stepping aside to show Tsuna standing beside her, his little face red, and his eyes filled with tears that had already spilled over onto his cheeks. "I-I apologize, but I couldn't understand what he was saying, so I brought him here…"

Standing up, Giotto crossed the room to the little boy, kneeling in front of him. _"Tsuna-kun? Is there something wrong?" _he asked. _"Did you get hurt?"_

The little brunette shook his head. _"I-I want my okaa-san…"_

* * *

><p>SkyGem: Aww, poor Tsuna dear…haha, well, this chapter was quite long…as an apology for taking so long to update. I know I said this last time, but I'll do my best not to take so long next time. So please do review and tell me what you thought, ne? Ciao~<p>

P.S. This fic isn't going to be anywhere near as long as RaF. It's going to end in about five or six chapters (because this whole thing is actually a prologue for another fic XD).


	6. Attached At the Hips

Hayato rubbed his eyes sleepily as he wandered down the hallways of this strange mansion. It wasn't long before he heard sounds of crying and followed it to find the little brunette from earlier, Tsuna.

All the adults around him were panicking, trying to get him to stop crying, and Hayato felt a small pang of jealousy. Whenever he cried like that, he got into trouble with his father.

The only time he didn't get into trouble was when that nice lady who taught him to play the piano used to come over. When she saw him crying, she didn't get mad; she just hugged him tight and told him that everything would be alright.

After just a moment of hesitation, Hayato steeled his resolve and decided to approach them, and the adults looked up at him.

Ignoring their curious gazes, the silverette promptly walked up to the little brunette and clumsily wrapped his arms around him. When Tsuna looked up at him, he tried a hesitant smile, not saying anything.

For some reason, that smile reassured Tsuna, and he thought that maybe this onii-san wasn't as scary as he seemed. Quickly rubbing away his tears, Tsuna offered him a shaky smile, and Hayato's own grin grew wider. Letting go, he ruffled his hair playfully, and placed a brotherly kiss on his cheek.

The Vongola guardians watched in amazement as Tsuna went from a scared little kid, back to the fluffy little ball of energy he had been before his nap.

And from that moment on, Tsuna and Hayato were inseparable. Despite not speaking the same language, they somehow understood each other perfectly, and one was never seen without the other. It got to the point that Tsuna wouldn't even go to sleep if his "Hayato-nii" wasn't there, and vice versa.

Meanwhile, the same thing seemed to be happening with Mukuro and Nagi. After the hair incident on the first day, the illusionist became strangely protective of the only girl in the group.

For most of the first week, everyone pretty much did their own thing; Hayato and Tsuna explored the mansion and occasionally the gardens, an activity in which Ryohei and/or Takeshi sometimes participated. Kyoya was alone most of the time, doing who knows what, but sometimes he would join Tsuna and Hayato on their travels if Ryohei and Takeshi weren't there. The Japanese skylark didn't have anything against them, he just didn't like crowds; the only reason he put up with Hayato (whom he did have something against) was because Tsuna never strayed more than a meter away from him, and he had gotten quite attached to the brunette; in fact, all of them had. Even Nagi and Mukuro sometimes decided they could stop playing pranks on Daemon and get to know the other pair.

It wasn't until one day, when Asari was bored and with nothing much to do, that he came up with the bright idea of teaching the kids a bit about each other's languages.

It took some bribing on Kyoya's part, but he eventually got all seven of them together in the library.

"_What are we going to be doing here today, Asari-nii?"_asked Tsuna curiously, tilting his head to the side in question. The guardians had (thankfully) convinced the Japanese children to call them big brother instead of uncle, seeing as most of them weren't even twenty yet.

"_I'm going to teach you a little about the language your Hayato-nii speaks,"_ replied Asari in a friendly voice, and saw that little brunette's eyes brighten at this.

Turning to the silverette sitting beside him, and began gesturing excitedly, and Hayato thought he had the gist of what he was trying to tell him.

Turning to the Japanese man, he asked, "Are we going to learn their language too?"

Asari allowed himself a moment to be impressed at their system of communication, then smiled. "Of course," he said. "But, unfortunately, this does mean that you and Mukuro will have to be separated from your other halves for a few hours."

"What?" shouted Mukuro, standing up. "Why? If they're learning Italian, wouldn't we be able to help them? And they'd help us learn their language easier too!"

"Yes, but things will be a lot faster if we have the lessons at the same time instead of one after the other. Once you've all learned the very basics, though, we'll get back together and help each other, okay? Don't you want to be able to talk to Nagi?"

Tsuna, who had been watching silently until then, tugged on Hayato's arm and looked up at him inquiringly.

The silverette took his right hand, showing it to represent himself, and put it up against his left hand, which seemed to represent Tsuna, then brought them apart.

Tsuna, having understood what his friend meant, widened his eyes in surprise, but actually took it unexpectedly well. Smiling up at Hayato, he nodded once, then turned and went to sit beside Takeshi and Kyoya, who smirked infuriatingly at Hayato.

Supressing the urge to attack the older male, Hayato turned and followed Asari to another part of the library with Mukuro also following; Knuckle, who had been quiet all this time, stayed behind with the other five children.

After seven days of constantly having Tsuna at his side, it felt odd to look over and see Mukuro in his place, and he could see the pineapple head felt the same. This little fact had the strange consequence of them becoming a bit friendlier towards each other.

Asari noticed this, and smiled; none of the guardians had expected that the only two Italian kids would bond with the more timid of the Japanese kids instead of with each other. Somehow, though, it was very fitting.

And for the next hour and a half, Asari taught Hayato and Mukuro about honorifics and the basics of the Japanese culture, things such as "hello" and "goodbye," "how are you?" and "I'm good," and Hayato even requested to learn one certain special phrase.

Meanwhile, the same was happening with the sun guardian and the Japanese kids and, not surprisingly, by the time they all got back together, the people that had learned the most were Mukuro, Hayato, Tsuna, and Nagi.

The moment Asari said the words "let's go back," Mukuro and Hayato scampered off and plopped down beside the awaiting Nagi and Tsuna, respectively.

When Hayato was situated beside Tsuna, the brunette smiled at him, and stumbled over the words, "Ti voglio bene*."

Hayato's eyes widened upon hearing these words from the boy; he was ecstatic to learn that he meant so much to his friend.

Hugging him, he said clumsily, _"Anata wo mamotte agetai*."_ It had taken forever for him memorize the words, and actually pronounce them so that they were halfway understandable. When he saw Tsuna's expression, though, it seemed worth it.

The little brunette let out a giggle, saying an enthusiastic, _"Hai!"_

* * *

><p><strong>*<strong>Ti voglio bene – "I love you" when talking to a family member.

*****Anata wo mamotte agetai – I want to protect you

******Please note I found the above translations on the internet, which isn't always accurate; if believe the translations are lacking, or that the phrases used aren't correct for the situation, then please let me know how I can fix it (politely, please; I'm not a speaker of either language).******

SkyGem: I've just remembered how much I love writing chibi!Tsuna! Haha, anyways, sorry for not updating at all these past few days but I have a lot going on right now. I'll spare you guys the sob story, though; I just wanted to say I won't be updating much these next few weeks (exams are coming up) Gomen, ne? Just please leave a review telling me what you thought and I'll see when I can update next. Ciao~

P.S. The poll on my profile is now closed and it looks like there are 5 chapters left! I can't wait to start the sequel (specifically, the Shimon arc)!

EDIT: This fic is taking on a life of its own, I swear. Anyways, I've just decided to make this series into a Trilogy (hence the spontaneous change in title and summary)! Yay~ do you guys like the idea? Let me know~


	7. Unexpected Questions

SkyGem: Well, I'll be borrowing two of my OCs from RaF in this chapter, I hope you guys don't mind it terribly. I quite like them and thought they should get more appearances.

* * *

><p>Alfeo walked briskly through the Vongola mansion on his way to Primo's office. The orange-haired man had just gotten back from an assignment in England and was really looking forward to just taking the rest of the afternoon off. It felt good to be home again. He just needed to give his report to Primo, then he would be free for a few days.<p>

As he walked, something caught the man's notice; the maids all seemed a little overly happy for some reason. Filing it away in his mind so that he could speculate on it later, the man continued on his way to his boss's office.

Upon knocking on the door, he waited for Giotto's usual "come in," but heard nothing. He was just starting to wonder if the man was out at the moment, when the door opened. His eyes trailing down, he saw a little boy, maybe four years old, staring up at him with wide, curious brown eyes and a face that looked too familiar for it to be a coincidence.

After a minute of studying him, the boy must have decided that Alfeo wasn't dangerous and stepped aside with a smile on his face, holding a finger to his lips and whispering, _"Shh! Giotto-nii fell asleep! Don't wake him up!"_

A little perplexed at the child's use of the Japanese language and his startling resemblance to his boss, Alfeo stepped inside, looking around. What he saw in there made his eyes go wide with surprise. Currently in the room were five other little boys and a little girl who had startling resemblances to the Vongola guardians.

The kids were scattered over the floor, drawing pictures with brightly coloured crayons. This was a normal kid activity; the thing that was seriously abnormal about it, though, was the things some of them were drawing.

Most of the kids were drawing normal things, like flowers and bunnies and smiling suns, but from what Alfeo could make out of the picture the Alaude lookalike was drawing, he thought he saw the kid beating up five others, all more than twice his size, with a pair of tonfas. There was a lot of blood…Now the Mukuro lookalike, his drawing was even more disturbing than the Alaude kid's. It was a picture that looked suspiciously like a Vendice guard; how a child knew what one even was, Alfeo had no idea, but it sent a shiver up his spine.

Currently in the room with the kids were Giotto, who was passed out at his desk, a little drool coming out of his mouth; G, who was sprawled out on the couch, eyes closed, having evidently fallen asleep while reading some paperwork; and Asari, who was nodding off on another sofa, one hand holding a piece of paper and the other resting inconspicuously on his sword, alert even in his sleep, for enemies.

Skipping back to the other kids, the little brunette who had opened the door plopped down beside a silverette.

Going to sit beside them, Alfeo smiled curiously at the kids and said, "Hey kiddies! Mind telling me what you're doing in here?"

Of the seven, only two seemed to have fully understood him. The younger of those two, the silverette, sneered at him, saying, "If you must know, the seven were somehow sent here from four hundred years in the future and Giotto and the others are taking care of us until they find a way to send us back. Oh, and only me and the male pineapple head understand Italian. The others are all Japanese."

For a moment, there was quiet, with Alfeo not knowing quite how to respond to that. Then, letting a patronizing smile grace his features, he said, "What a creative imagination you have there, little one! Now, can you tell me the real reason you're here?"

There was a growl from the boy who looked like Daemon and he said, "We are telling the truth you buffoon! Even ask the others!"

Sceptically, Alfeo turned to Tsuna and asked him why he was at the mansion. The kid merely looked at him with confused eyes for a second before turning to look at the silverette questioningly.

"I thought I told you they didn't understand Italian, idiot! Ask him in Japanese!" hissed the boy, and Alfeo drew back a little at the venom in his voice which made him sound so much like G; apparently, looks weren't the only thing they shared.

Shooting another sceptical glance at the boy, Alfeo turned back to the brunette and asked, _"What are you kids doing here?"_

The boy's expression turned to one of understanding and he smiled sweetly, saying that_, "We got sent here from the future! See, one day we just appeared here, and then some funny stuff happened and then Giotto-nii told us that we're in the past now! We have to wait for the end of the month so that a person named Talbot can send us back home!"_

Somehow, coming from this innocent little boy's mouth, the story seemed a little more believable, but Alfeo still wasn't sure he was ready to believe that these kids had somehow travelled through time.

The man was so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed one of the kids sneak up behind him, and felt his heart almost stop when an energetic black-haired kid with cheery brown eyes threw himself onto his back, wrapping his arms around his neck and saying, _"I caught you! Now you're under my control!"_

After getting over the initial shock, Alfeo smiled, somehow feeling himself being pulled into their pace.

"_Oh really?"_ he asked. _"Then what do you want me to do, oh great and powerful one?"_

There was a giggle from the boy on his back before he said enthusiastically,_ "Play with us! Giotto-nii and G-nii and Asari-nii all fell asleep and the others are busy doing other things! We're bored!"_

Standing up, still with the boy dangling from his neck, Alfeo heard the kid let out a small squeak and wrap his legs around his midsection so as not to fall off. Looking down at all the kids, he said to them, _"Why don't we all go to another room and play, ne? We wouldn't want to wake up Giotto-sama and the others."_

After translating his words into Italian for the other two kids, Alfeo marched the kids out of the room, with the little boy he soon learned was Takeshi still clinging tightly to his back and the little brunette called Tsuna grasping his hand and enthusiastically pulling him forward.

* * *

><p>About half an hour later, Giotto was awakened by the deafening silence.<p>

Jerking up in his seat, the blond wiped the bit of drool from the corner of his mouth and looked around the room for the children. Seeing the papers with the drawings on them, abandoned on the floor, Giotto flew into a panic.

Sitting up, he called, "G! Asari! Wake up! The kids are missing!"

Immediately, both men jerked awake and started looking around wildly, still half asleep.

Not seeing the children, they stood up, and one after the other, they all rushed out of the room to begin their frantic search.

The three hadn't gone three feet before they heard a shriek of laughter that made them both stop and look at each other in confusion.

Gesturing for them to be quiet, Giotto slowly walked in the direction he thought the sound had come from. A few seconds later, they heard another voice giggle, and, now sure of the direction, the three men followed.

Stopping in front of a door that led to one of the meeting rooms, Asari threw it open, and they were all awarded with a particularly amusing sight.

The tables, which were usually arranged in a closed square, had been pushed up against the wall and there had been pillows and blankets spread out all over the floor.

In the middle of the room, Alfeo was pinned to the floor by five of the brats while the other two, easily identified as Kyoya and Mukuro, were sitting atop his torso.

In one corner of the room, sitting casually upon one of the tables, was Isabella, watching what was going on with an amused air about her. Her chin-length, wine red hair was pulled back into a tidy ponytail, and both she and Alfeo had exchanged their suits for a pair of sweats and plain white t-shirts.

All the tension draining from his body upon seeing that the children were fine, Giotto leaned against the doorframe, an amused smile playing on his lips.

"You guys sure seem to be having fun," he heard G say, sounding just as amused as Giotto himself.

The kids all turned to look at him, big smiles on all their faces; even Kyoya seemed to be grinning slightly.

Lifting his head up so that he could see his boss, Alfeo grinned a little sheepishly. "Hey boss," he said, "I just got back a while ago, but when I went to give you the report, you and the others were asleep so I left it one the desk and went about entertaining these brats.

Giotto nodded, the grin still playing across his lips. "That's fine," he said, "I'll read it later."

Then, Tsuna asked something that caught all the adults in the room to look at him in surprise. It was so completely out of the blue, that no one really knew how to respond.

"_Ne, Giotto-nii, what is the Vongola?"_

* * *

><p>SkyGem: Well, there it is! I hope this chapter wasn't too boring! Please do leave a review and tell me what you guys thought, ne? And I'll see you guys next time! Ciao!<p> 


	8. It's Time

"_Ne, Giotto-nii, what is the Vongola?"_

There were a few moments of silence before Giotto blurted out, _"Nani?"_

"_The Vongola!"_ repeated Tsuna.

There were a few more moments of silence before Asari asked,_ "Tsuna-kun…where did you hear that name?"_

Tsuna shrugged almost nonchalantly, saying, _"I overhear people saying it all the time; even you guys say it so much!"_

The three adults threw each other apprehensive glances; they really should be more careful in making sure that the kids weren't around when talking about mafia business.

Letting out a small sigh, Giotto turned to the two Italians, first asking them, "How much do you two know about the Vongola?"

Mukuro and Hayato both exchanged significant glances before Mukuro said in a meaningful voice, **"Everything."**

"Everything?" asked Giotto, sounding somewhat dazed.

Hayato nodded saying, "About the mafia, the guardians, the rings, the ally families," then, almost as an afterthought, "my dad's Family is allied with the Vongola."

"And I used to be a part of the Estraneo," added Mukuro, his expression somewhat dark.

Giotto and his two present guardians took a while to let this sink in before Asari said to them, "Then please don't let the others know?"

Hayato let out a snort. "What do you think we are, idiots? Of course we wouldn't tell them. Just because we're a part of this world, it doesn't mean that the others have to be!"

And the adults were amazed at the fierce protectiveness in their eyes, surprised to see that it wasn't only directed at their respective charges, but the others as well.

Nodding, the blond took a deep breath, his mind racing as he tried to come up with a plausible answer to the young brunette's question.

Looking back into chocolate brown eyes, Giotto sank down onto a pillow and opened his mouth to answer. Before he could say anything, though, Tsuna ran up to him and promptly settled into his lap, tilting his head back and looking up at him with a smile.

"_Tsuna?"_ asked Giotto, a little confused about the shy child's sudden boldness.

The four-year-old's smile widened and said, _"This is going to be a long story, isn't it? Whenever I go to visit grandpa, he tells me stories, and I always get to sit in his lap!"_

"_Your grandpa?"_ asked Giotto, wanting to stall the coming conversation as long as possible.

Tsuna shook his head; _"He's not my real grandpa! I just call him that! He's my otou-san's boss! But he's really nice and once in a while, him and his guardians come with otou-san to visit us!"_

"_His…guardians?"_ asked Giotto, his eyes widening as he looked back at his friends, who had sat down beside him, not noticing that the other kids had come to sit as well.

Tsuna's young face became a little confused as he nodded at this. _"But I don't really know what a guardian is," _he said, looking quite perplexed. _"But I do know that them and grandpa are really close friends!"_

"_How many of them are there?"_ asked Giotto, his voice just barely above a whisper.

Tsuna's face screwed up in thought as he counted the people off on his fingers before saying in a bright voice, _"There are six of them!"_

Giotto felt suddenly felt the blood drain out of his face. It couldn't be possible…could it? Tsuna's father couldn't possibly be in the mafia, could he? Taking a steadying breath, the blond asked in what he deemed a calm voice, _"What do your grandpa's friends call him?"_

"_They call him Timoteo!"_ answered Tsuna immediately, ten added, almost as an afterthought, _"But sometimes they call him Nono…"_

"Nono?" asked Giotto, his breath catching in his throat.

Tsuna nodded and said, _"I asked otou-san what it meant one time. He just got this funny look on his face and said that I heard wrong. He said that they didn't call him Nono, but nonno, which means grandpa. I'm pretty sure I heard Nono, though…"_

Giotto nodded, exchanging unsure glances with the others. Maybe what Tsuna's father had told him was right; maybe he really had misheard…but that didn't seem too likely.

Suddenly, he was snapped out of his thoughts by Tsuna fidgeting nervously in his lap. Looking down, Giotto caught his eye, and Tsuna's cheeks became tinged with pink. _"Umm, so Giotto-nii, can you tell me about the Vongola?"_

Giotto, finding his sudden shyness slightly amusing, asked in a light voice, _"Why so interested in the Vongola?"_

Tsuna fidgeted a little more before pointing out in an almost whisper, _"Your ring…"_

Once again, all the adults froze, even Isabella and Alfeo, who were now also listening in. The other Japanese kids were listening with rapt attention.

"_My ring?" _asked Giotto in a voice just as low as Tsuna's.

The little brunette nodded again, still looking a little shy. _"It looks like grandpa's…"_

The surprises just wouldn't stop coming. Now, not only was Tsuna's father potentially in the mafia, there was a high chance he was in the Vongola!

When Giotto didn't say anything, Tsuna kept speaking, his voice turning a little sad. _"Papa is away for work a lot, so I almost never see him. But when I grow up, I want to work in the same place as otou-san, so that I can spend more time with him! But right now, I'm too young, so I just have to learn everything I can about his job! And since Giotto-nii has the same ring as grandpa, and he has guardians too, I thought that maybe Giotto-nii's job is like grandpa's and otou-san's…"_

Giotto felt his stomach tie into knots at the sight in front of him, seeing the heartbreakingly sad expression on young Tsuna's face. The boy really missed his father…

Deciding to humor him, Giotto pulled the kid closer to him, ignoring the small squeak of surprise, and smiled, saying, _"Well, Tsuna-kun, the Vongola is a group that I started when I was a teenager, not too long after my parents died. We're a group whose sole aim it is to protect that weak…"_

* * *

><p>Later that night, after the guardians had tucked all the kids into their beds and disappeared for a "family meeting," the six older kids somehow found their way to Tsuna and Giotto's room.<p>

"_But you know, Giotto-nii and the others are even cooler than I thought they were!_" said Takeshi with an awed smile on his face. _"When I get bigger, I want to be just like them!"_

"_They're all EXTREME!"_ shouted Ryohei in what sounded like agreement, and even Hibari seemed mildly impressed with their temporary caretakers.

Chrome nodded hesitantly in agreement while Mukuro and Hayato sat quietly, watching what was going on with interest. Thanks to Asari's continued lessons in Japanese, they understood bits and pieces of what the kids were saying. It was nowhere near enough to piece together what the conversation was really about, but they were intrigued nonetheless.

Not to mention that they would probably get this gist of what was going on from their partners later on.

The conversation lasted quite a while and nobody really knew when it happened, but at one point in second hour or so, the last of the kids had all drifted off, littered all around the room in their various perches.

And that was how Giotto found them when he came back to the room at almost midnight.

Hiding his grin, the blond quickly walked over to his closet and pulled out some blankets, one of which he tucked around Kyoya, who was curled up in a soft armchair close to Tsuna's bed. Another of the blankets went around Takeshi and Ryohei, who had fallen asleep at the foot of Giotto's enormous bed, and the last went around Nagi and Mukuro, who were curled into each other at the other end of the bed.

Finally, Giotto readjusted the covers on Tsuna's bed so that Hayato was also warm enough.

When all that was done, the blond turned and walked out of the room, turning off the lights as he left.

The infirmary would have a bed he could sleep in, just for tonight.

* * *

><p>The next morning, almost as if on cue, the seven time travellers all woke up within minutes of each other.<p>

The kids remained uncharacteristically quiet, knowing that they all felt the same thing.

They all knew that the time had come.

They all knew that it was time to say goodbye to their new friends.

They all knew that it was time to go back home.

* * *

><p>SkyGem: Wow. Compared to my other updates of this story, this one actually came quite fast. Only a week, if I'm not mistaken? Maybe because this segment is almost done…I'm not promising anything, but if all goes well, on Monday, I may just be able to update the last chapter of TItP: First Meeting, and post the first chapter of TItP: Gathering the Guardians. I bet you're all looking forward to that. Anyways, that's all for now, and I'll see if I can update Once a Friend (OaF) this weekend! Ciao!<p> 


	9. Home

Even after the children had all awoken, there was silence as they all looked around at each other, having immediately realized what their new knowledge meant.

Going home meant being separated, and even though the kids really wished to be back in their own time, they were sad about the prospects it held for their friendship.

Tsuna clutched tightly to Hayato's hand, and Mukuro had his arms around Nagi.

There was a long while of silence before Kyoya stood up with a little sigh. _"Let's go to breakfast."_

Numbly, the Japanese kids all nodded, and everyone followed without argument, even Mukuro and Hayato, who were frequently picking fights with the young skylark.

When the kids arrived in the dining room, surprisingly enough, the only person already there was Lampo.

Upon seeing them, the teen, who was really only a little more than a decade older than them, smiled lazily, sipping his coffee.

"What's got you kids up so early?"

There was a moment of silence before Hayato answered, "We're leaving."

For a moment, Lampo stared at them uncomprehendingly before asking, "What? Leaving?" Despite his apparent lack of feelings for the children, his expression immediately became worried. "Did something happen to you guys? What do you mean you're leaving? You don't have anywhere else to go in this time and Talbot isn't ready to send you guys back yet!"

Mukuro shook his head, his omnipresent smirk absent from his face. "No, Lampo, nothing happened, and we don't need Mr. Talbot's help getting back home…"

Tsuna looked up at the green-haired guardian, tears blurring his vision. _"It's time, Lampo-nii. We'll see you again one day, won't we?"_

There was yet another moment of silence as Lampo digested all this new information, feeling as if there was a sudden hole in his heart; the kids were going back home? In the near two and a half weeks that they'd been there, the kids' presence had become natural; they were already a part of his life, and it would be hard to go back to his life before they had come.

Arranging his face into a reassuring smile, he said to the boy, _"Of course we'll see each other again one day. I'm not so lucky to get rid of you brats so easily, ne?"_

Tsuna smiled a watery smile at this and enthusiastically nodded, as if trying to convince himself of this fact.

"_But how about we all have one more breakfast together, ne? As a family," _suggested Lampo, and the kids nodded eagerly; Hayato and Mukuro had understood the word breakfast and had easily deciphered the meaning of the sentence.

They couldn't leave without having breakfast with the guardians, now could they?

* * *

><p>When Giotto drifted into the dining room almost twenty minutes later, he found that he was the last one to arrive, and that the seating arrangement was quite unusual today.<p>

While the kids generally sat together, today all the guardians were sitting beside their younger counterparts with a seat open beside Tsuna, obviously reserved for him.

Feeling an odd sense of despair in the pit of his stomach, he slowly made his way to the table and sat down, the blond smiled down at his young roommate, but the boy didn't return with his normal, blinding smile.

Frowning a little, Giotto swept his bangs aside, putting a hand to his forehead and asking, _"Are you okay, Tsuna-kun? Do you have a fever?"_

The four-year-old merely shook his head and offered up a tiny smile, his eyes flicking over to Lampo for a quick second.

Giotto followed his gaze, meeting Lampo's eyes and sending him a questioning glance.

Lampo just shook his head and meaningfully, his eyes telling Giotto to drop the subject. Giotto reluctantly did so, and the rest of breakfast passed by quietly, no one taking it upon themselves to fill the awkward silence.

* * *

><p>Even though that breakfast was a quiet one, Tsuna found himself quite enjoying it, and tried not to think about what would happen when he finished eating.<p>

When he finally put his fork down, though, Tsuna was forced to look up into Giotto's questioning gaze.

Feeling a smile come upon his face as he looked at the man that had come to be like an older brother to him these past few weeks, Tsuna beckoned for him to come a little closer.

His eyes showing curiosity, Giotto bent down and promptly found himself in Tsuna's clumsy embrace as the child placed a kiss on his cheek.

"_Giotto-nii reminds me a lot of otou-san and grandpa, and I want to be just like him when I grow up,"_ he whispered into his ear, and Giotto felt his heart plummet as he realized just how much those words sounded like a goodbye.

Pulling away a little, Giotto looked apprehensively at the small brunette who smiled brightly up at him, though there was a tinge of sadness to it.

Then, before Giotto could say a word, the little brunette squeezed his eyes shut and disappeared with a puff of smoke.

When Tsuna reopened his eyes, he found himself in a country thousands of miles away, in a time hundreds of years later.

He took a moment to look around at the familiar sight of his neighbourhood before turning and walking through the gate of the Sawada residence, outside of which he had reappeared.

Walking slowly, everything feeling surreal to the boy, he stood in front of the front door, looking at it for a while.

Then, he stretched up and pressed the doorbell.

There were a few moments of silence as he waited for the door to be opened, and when it was, he saw his mother standing there, her expression tired, with bags under her eyes as if she hadn't slept for days.

When she saw her son standing at the door, smiling faintly, Nana's eyes widened before she knelt down and drew him into a fiercely protective hug, tears dripping down her face.

"Tsu-kun," she choked out, burying her face into Tsuna's hair as the boy felt his own tears escape his eyes.

* * *

><p>G stared in shock at the place where Tsuna had disappeared from before feeling a tug on his sleeve.<p>

Looking down, he saw Hayato looking up at him with a half-smirk on his face. Beckoning him to come closer, just as Tsuna had done, the silverette surprisingly hugged G around the neck before playfully growling, "Turns out you're not such a huge jerk after all. I could've had a worse roommate."

G pulled away dazedly before looking down at the silverette, feeling his stomach plummet as he realized that this boy was also saying goodbye.

For a second, Hayato's smirk turned into a genuinely happy smile, then he disappeared into a puff of smoke, reappearing in a mansion not too far from where he had previously been, in a time far, far into the future.

It wasn't long before he was being chased by his sister to try the new dishes she had come up with during his absence, not noticing the relieved tears that were fighting to spill onto her cheeks.

* * *

><p>As G's young roommate was saying goodbye, the same was happening with Daemon.<p>

Feeling a little shaken after seeing Tsunayoshi's disappearance, he looked down at his young charges, knowing immediately from their expressions that they would have to be leaving soon too.

Mukuro smirked, before saying, "Your bed was quite comfortable; now we know which one to steal the next time we come here."

Nagi giggled, obviously thinking along the same lines as her friend, even if she couldn't understand him. _"It was fun getting to know you, Daemon-nii. I hope you're not too mad at us for everything we've done to you!"_

Before Daemon could return with a snarky reply, the two had disappeared, one to a run-down old building where he was promptly attacked by his relieved best friends, the other to a mansion where her parents hadn't even noticed she was missing.

* * *

><p>Now that there were only three children left, Asari was beginning to panic.<p>

Looking down at Takeshi, he saw the boy smiling mysteriously at him.

Standing on his chair to wrap his small arms around the older Japanese man's neck, Takeshi placed a kiss on his cheek before saying, _"I hope you'll invite me to tea again one day."_

As he unwrapped his arms and stepped away, Takeshi smiled once more before disappearing in a manner similar to his friends and reappearing just outside his father's restaurant.

He had taken but two steps inside before a customer noticed him and yelled for Tsuyoshi to come outside and that his son had returned.

It wasn't long before Takeshi found himself being crushed in his father's embrace.

* * *

><p>Alaude looked down at the young boy sitting beside him, his eyes betraying his feelings at seeing the young boy go.<p>

Kyoya looked back up at him with emotionless eyes before smiling up at him; a small smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"_I acknowledge you as a carnivore,"_ he said shortly and without preamble before promptly turning his head away to hid a small tear glistening on his cheek and disappearing.

He reappeared in a house in Japan where his parents' divorce had been finalized and he was told to start packing his things for his new home in France.

* * *

><p>Ryohei was the last of the kids to disappear, and Knuckle found himself fighting back tears as the small boy smiled brightly up at him.<p>

"_Knuckle-nii was an extreme roommate,"_ he said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. _"I'm going to learn boxing and become strong, just like you."_

And with that, the last of the kids were gone, having returned to his own time just in time to rescue his precious little sister from a gang of nasty school boys.

It wasn't long before he was back home, being hugged fiercely by both his parents and his younger sister.

He was finally back home.

* * *

><p>SkyGem: Aww, such a sad chapter! I was planning on making this into two chapters and adding a little more detail, but I like the way it turned out, so I'm leaving it. I hope you guys like, ne? Please do leave a review! (I was also planning on them meeting their future selves, but that didn't happen sadly enough…) I'm sorry I can't post the next installment tonight, but it'll be up tomorrow, 'kay? Ciao for now!<p> 


End file.
